Monday is the start of Pride Week at Central Michigan University, an event celebrating the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community.

“Pride Week is important (to the LGBTQ and ally community) because it is an opportunity to come together campus wide and celebrate who we are,” said Shannon Jolliff, director of Gay and Lesbian Programs.

The week’s events range from a queer monologue, film screening and drag show, among others. All events are free.

The first event is a Soup and Substance discussion at noon Monday at the Bovee University Center Terrace Rooms.

The “Cherry Bomb!” talk-show style panel is at 7 p.m. in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

Jolliff said that, even though Pride Week is a celebration, she encourages others to get involved for the educational opportunities.

“Students, faculty and staff have an opportunity to go deeper and engage in active learning about the LGBTQ community with the events provided,” she said.

Tuesday is the “EPIC (Queer Monologues) Performance” in the Plachta Auditorium at 7 p.m.

Sterling Heights senior Julz Meray, co-coordinator of Pride Week, said Wednesday afternoon’s “Day of Silence” is a national event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

“Individuals on their own (can) make a vow of silence and we recognize that silence by having a march,” Meray said.

The march will begin around 4:30 p.m. in front of the Charles V. Park Library and will end around 5 p.m. at the Warriner seal. Everybody can come to this event, Meray said.

Students also can choose to wear red or black colors in support of the day.

“This Day (of Silence) really is to shed light on the issue of LGBT anti-bullying and harassment in our schools,” Meray said.

The Drag Show hosted by Sabin, a Detroit resident named Tyler Cooper, will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

Mount Pleasant freshman Michael Ryniak said he is celebrating Pride Week to show the strength of the gay community on campus.

“(I) believe it will help spread the knowledge of homophobia and discrimination to my heterosexual peers,” he said.

Jolliff said everyone has pride within themselves all year round and this week showcases that.

“In this one week the entire campus community can gather together and celebrate who we are,” she said.

Racial discrimination cases follow in quantity, though numbers have, in general, remained stabile.

According to reports from the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity for 2010, there have been 13 sexual harassment cases, five sexual orientation harassment cases and six “gender/sex” cases thus far. Last year, there were 28 total sexual harassment cases, 11 sexual orientation cases, six gender/sex cases and one gender identity/gender expression case.

“They’re pretty steady, which is surprising to a lot of people because we have an expectation that society and our university community is very respectful to each other,” said Matt Olovson, assistant director of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity. “But really, we see about the same number of complaints every year.”

Of the 100 total harassment and discrimination issues reported in 2009, 46 complaints dealt solely with sexual/gender issues.

There have been 22 racial discrimination cases reported so far in 2010. Last year, there were a total of 20 racial discrimination cases reported. Since 2005, racial discrimination cases outnumbered sexual harassment only one year — 18 to 14 in 2007.

Olovson said the data from his office does not include complaints handled by other departments, so the overall number of complaints is higher. That does not mean CMU is a hotbed for discrimination, he said.

“People will report more complaints if they feel like there’s going to be some type of resolution and the university is going to care and do something about it,” Olovson said. “So, it has a lot to do with trust and it has a lot to do with comfort,”

Policy changing

During the summer of 2009, the offices of Gay and Lesbian Programs, Civil Rights and Institutional Equity and the student ombudsman wrote a proposal to have gender identity and gender expression added to the nondiscrimination policy to make it more inclusive.

“Gender identity is an individual’s internal sense of being male/female or masculine/feminine,” said Shannon Jolliff, director of Gay and Lesbian Programs. “Gender expression is the way an individual communicates their gender identity to the world. People do this through clothing, hair, gestures, etc.”

Discriminating against an individual for their sexual orientation at CMU was expressly prohibited in the nondiscrimination policy, but it did not contain specific verbiage protecting individuals from discrimination and harassment on the basis of masculinity or femininity.

The proposal was accepted July 16, 2009.

When a complaint is filed with Civil Rights and Institutional Equity, Olovson said they hold a meeting with the complainant to review any evidence they have for their case.

“That means that they have to show that it is more likely that it is discrimination or harassment than it isn’t,” Olovson said. “It’s kind of like a 51 percent standard.”

CMU assists the complainant with conceptualizing their argument and composing a written statement with evidence and pertinent background information.

“We evaluate the totality of the circumstances, we talk to supervisors about whether this is a reoccurring issue or a first-time issue … and then we make an evaluation about what’s the best possible remedy and we definitely take into account what the complainant would want,” Olovson said. “You want to create satisfaction for this environment to heal.”

Training included an overview of terminology, issues facing the LGBT community and the resources available to students.

The goal was to educate participants on the campus climate and the importance of Safe Zones— areas on campus where people who have faced harassment can go for support, said Shannon Jolliff, the director of Gay and Lesbian Programs.

“We’re hoping to create more Safe Zones on campus and help students to become more aware of what LGBT students are going through,” said Jon Humiston, student ombuds officer and a president’s office assistant.

The session began with an activity in which participants took definitions of sexual orientations and matched them with correct terms. The exercise was meant to increase awareness of affirmative language in the LGBT community.

The course also covered the negative effects of heterosexism and homophobia.

“I think that educating the university community and the community in general provides a valuable opportunity for people to embrace diversity and better understand the different cultures represented in our daily lives,” said Denise Schafer, coordinator of the Master of Science in Administration program.

“I really like that they have this program here,” said Romeo senior Jacquelyn Goodfallow. “I think it’s important for students to have a place they can go where they feel safe.”

Safe Zone training sessions are free and are held once a month. The next session will be Feb. 5.

Students can partake in Safe Zone Training from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday in the Rowe Hall Room 229, said Jon Humiston, student ombuds officer and president’s office assistant.

“Suicide rates, dropping out of class and alcohol abuse are all high because of the negative climate on campus,” said Director of Gay and Lesbian Programs Shannon Jolliff.

The training will include why it is important to have safe zones on CMU’s campus. It also will include terminology and issues facing GLBT communities, Humiston said.

Jolliff said the training also will include heterosexual privileges, GLBT climate of the campus, the coming-out process and what it is like and what it means to be a safe zone.

“(A safe zone) would be a network of campus allies for GLBT where they can go for support around campus,” Humiston said.

Jolliff said a safe zone does not have to necessarily agree with what a person is saying, but has to know how to help the person with resources.

“We don’t expect them to be trained counselors. We expect them to understand resources the campus provides,” she said.

CMU has 280 safe zones on campus, Jolliff said. Every month, there is training held for people who want to be a safe zone. The turnout is about 15 people at each training, she said.

At the end of the training, there are contracts people can sign if they decide they want to be a safe zone, Jolliff said.

“Anyone who is interested in the training and networking (is welcome to come),” Humiston said.

The policy, created by former President Bill Clinton in 1993, authorizes the military to fire American soldiers for admitting to be homosexual.

Obama told the Human Rights Campaign on Oct. 10 that he plans to end the policy, according to the Associated Press. The country cannot afford to cut from the military’s ranks people with needed skills for fighting, he said.

First Lt. Tierney A. Williams, Central Michigan University department of military science instructor, believes the policy is working quite well as it is.

“The policy provides security for each person, and it puts people that are uncomfortable with their personal choices at ease,” she said.

Williams hopes everyone will still be able to do their jobs if the policy is removed.

“The policy being removed could bring more people in, but that just depends on how comfortable each person is with themselves,” Williams said. “Every situation brings good and bad.”

To serve openly?

Director of Gay and Lesbian Programs Shannon Jolliff said she thinks the policy was originally put into place to protect lesbian, gay and bisexuals who were already in the military.

“I think that our administration at the time, however, realized that the policy was going to have the reverse effect, asking people to stay ‘in the closet’ as opposed to serve our country while being free and who they are,” Jolliff said.

She said the policy should be removed so anyone can serve the country while enjoying the freedoms they are fighting for.

“An advantage of the policy being removed would be that individuals serving in the military can serve openly without the fear of being discharged,” Jolliff said.

The only disadvantage, she said, would be that the policy would not be able to protect individuals from being harassed if the were gay or lesbian.

Jolliff said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prevent employers with more than 15 employees from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability will be approved first, followed by the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“If the (don’t ask, don’t tell) policy is overturned, it will have a positive affect on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and even transgender community of our nation,” she said.

Ishpeming sophomore Rob Waters said the current policy is immoral.

The elimination of the policy would bring advantages, he said.

“Removing the policy will open up enrollment for more people as well as create an environment based on equality,” Waters said. “I don’t see how the policy has made the military any better. It’s discriminatory and outdated.”